I got this for £5 on Steam which was brilliant but when I went to play the game it all went wrong because of the stupid Microsoft Live sign in to save game progress, I signed up for it all yet it still doesn't work so every time I log in it still tells me to create an account, F**k you Microsoft for ruining a great game. Just buy it on console.

This game is great. Unfortunately the combination of Games for Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club leads to a DRM f@%kfest that renders what might have been a great port into a useless pile of unplayable garbage. Glitches, fps drop, and crashing are what I come to expect from a port but when I can't even start the game due to login issues I have to say its bad

This game is completely and utterly terrible. Its boring and repetitive and ridiculously frustrating. The only thing I liked was the city. Liberty City breathes and feels real, That's the only thing I like about this game, other then that, it's simply terrible and a waste of money. Even the textures are terrible for its time.

After buying this game on Steam, i was really looking forward to playing it.. .. only.. no matter how many times i tried, it just wouldnt login so i could play it.. after trawling the forums, i eventually found out why, it needs an xbox live account to play it, and a games for windows live account, getting these setup took a considerable amount of time, and more than a few hours later, theAfter buying this game on Steam, i was really looking forward to playing it.. .. only.. no matter how many times i tried, it just wouldnt login so i could play it.. after trawling the forums, i eventually found out why, it needs an xbox live account to play it, and a games for windows live account, getting these setup took a considerable amount of time, and more than a few hours later, the game finally finished patching.. and i tried to login.. only. it wouldnt.. some kind of problem with the xbox live servers perhaps, but when it eventually did manage to login.. it played fine.. until i wanted to save the game, because of some kind of server problem at xbox live.. again.. i couldnt save the game. fortunately i had managed to save the game earlier.. but it meant a whole hour or so of progress.. had been lost. in the end, i uninstalled the game.. i just wish i hadnt bought the tales from liberty city module too.. i doubt i've ever regretted buying a game so much before.. when it worked it was fine.. but the xbox live thing just totally spoiled the game, all i can say is im not going to make that mistake ever again, i don't care how good the game is.. if it has xbox live as a requirement.. then i am definitely not buying it.…Expand

The graphics are amazing. The music is amazing. The game itself? It's awful. Terrible. Horrible. Here's a summary of the missions. Spoilers ahead:

Mission 1: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill some people.
Mission 2: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill a person
Mission 7: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill some people
Mission 29: drive to forgettable dirty cityThe graphics are amazing. The music is amazing. The game itself? It's awful. Terrible. Horrible. Here's a summary of the missions. Spoilers ahead:

That is the entire game. I am trying to play through it for the second time, and I just can not make myself finish. I'm at the last sequence of missions, and it's miserably boring due to the repetition. They made a beautiful game. A masterpiece of videogame art. But they forgot to make it fun.…Expand

When I first bought the game, it ran like a dog on lowest setting using a fairly high-end pc set up. If you're not buying the latest gear, don't even bother.A new graphics card later it ran, but the terrible, console style controls force you to use a game controller. Don't have an x-box game controller? Don't bother trying to drive anywhere. Or turn corners while walking.Since I alwaysWhen I first bought the game, it ran like a dog on lowest setting using a fairly high-end pc set up. If you're not buying the latest gear, don't even bother.A new graphics card later it ran, but the terrible, console style controls force you to use a game controller. Don't have an x-box game controller? Don't bother trying to drive anywhere. Or turn corners while walking.Since I always like their stories, I tried coming back to it after months (and probably win7 service pack 3) to find it won't load past the logo screens. I've tried everything I've found online to try to solve the issue with no success.R* can jump off a cliff. I am done with their bs, and despite owning pretty much everything they've made to date (bugs and all), I will never buy from them again. I feel like the entire package was a bait and switch for pc owners - Thanks for your $50, did you actually want to play that? Oh sorry, we haven't implemented that feature yet.Don't even bother buying it on special. Chances are it won't load at all. Go to a movie instead and save yourself days of screwing around.…Expand

This game is so bad... Its just a port from Xbox to PC thats why it ran so badly, my PC was way above the requirements and the worst part is, I completed the game with insanely bad framerate. The missions are repetative, your meant to do this or kill someone but its an ambush. Just a flatout horrible game.

A game that you can't play, is worth nothing. And GTAIV PC is a game that you can't play. It requires a credit card to register GFWL, requires registering Social Club & has other annoyances like Securom, and yes that's when you got it from Steam - buying a game on Steam and having to register GFWL, find the error. I'm glad I didn't pay too much for it. It's possibly a good game, onA game that you can't play, is worth nothing. And GTAIV PC is a game that you can't play. It requires a credit card to register GFWL, requires registering Social Club & has other annoyances like Securom, and yes that's when you got it from Steam - buying a game on Steam and having to register GFWL, find the error. I'm glad I didn't pay too much for it. It's possibly a good game, on consoles that is. From what I read it's also full of bugs, that I will never know. GTA3 was already a very bad PC port so I wouldn't be surprised. Another game that looks like a huge amount of work, ruined by abuse of marketing.…Expand

A decent game, but marred by bugs, graphics glitches and a STUPID anti-piracy system that punishes the customers rather than the pirates. I don't want to have to register and log in to several services just to play a game - it was cracked a few days after release anyway and, of course, those who pirate the game don't have to jump through all of the hoops that the honest customers do...A decent game, but marred by bugs, graphics glitches and a STUPID anti-piracy system that punishes the customers rather than the pirates. I don't want to have to register and log in to several services just to play a game - it was cracked a few days after release anyway and, of course, those who pirate the game don't have to jump through all of the hoops that the honest customers do...

Rockstar, if you're going to treat paying PC customers like criminals and then give them **** ports then don't bother.…Expand

Is Grand Theft Auto IV a good game? Yes, absolutely, I have not one bad thing to say about it. Is it a good PC port? Absolutely not, in fact I would call it number one for worst PC port of all time. Rockstar clearly spent most of their time jerking off instead of creating a perfect port of one of the best games of its time. Everything is buggy, and I am running a VERY high-end system, andIs Grand Theft Auto IV a good game? Yes, absolutely, I have not one bad thing to say about it. Is it a good PC port? Absolutely not, in fact I would call it number one for worst PC port of all time. Rockstar clearly spent most of their time jerking off instead of creating a perfect port of one of the best games of its time. Everything is buggy, and I am running a VERY high-end system, and can just barely max the game on highest resolution. There should be NO reason that a guy running a GTX 760 with 2GB of GDDR5 shouldn't be able to handle this game no sweat. I cannot believe Rockstar would screw its fans and players over like this, and the fact that the game has such high praise from critics, they should all be ashamed for letting this slip through the cracks. As a second complaint, being a guy who has Windows 8, the DRM best known as Suckurom crashes when I even attempt to start the game, a bigger kick in the head when I can completely circumvent it after pirating the game so I could actually play it (thanks a ton, you pricks.) If GTA V ever gets ported to PC I hope Rockstar at least learns from a few of their mistakes.…Expand

decent console game but what the **** its kind of insulting that they would release a game that performs this poorly, i have a very capable system i7, AMD HD 7770 graphics card, 12 gb's of ram, i can get it to run somewhat smoothly but using only 700 Mb of Vram, i feel completely cheated.

Nicely done but becomes a little repetitive after a while. There should be more around the story, or more interesting missions than just go and shoot a bunch of people to steal something. Yet, it's addictive and characters are quite developed with clear cut personalities (Little Jacob is AWESOME!).
However, after playing for 60 hours, I'm struggling real bad with some missions, afterNicely done but becomes a little repetitive after a while. There should be more around the story, or more interesting missions than just go and shoot a bunch of people to steal something. Yet, it's addictive and characters are quite developed with clear cut personalities (Little Jacob is AWESOME!).
However, after playing for 60 hours, I'm struggling real bad with some missions, after retrying them for like 20 times. No way to skip them, no help, it SUCKS! I'm so fed up to redo the same things again and again and have Nicko not respond to what I ask him to do, ending up dying in the most retarded ways ever. I give up. It ruined my game experience so bad that I now hate the game. Well done Rockstar for not putting any save-points for the long missions and force the player to do the same things during 30 minutes every time, again and again, for nothing.…Collapse

DO NOT BUY IF YOU WANT TO GET RID OF $20 THERE ARE LESS PAINFUL WAYS TO DO IT. I got it off steam installed it and immediately crashed black screen fatal error. Well I wasted some more time I wont get back doing about 20-25 steps off the steam forum(R* doesn't even have their own forum) trying to get it to work. This is completely unacceptable and I wont be buying rockstar games in the future.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
A very poor example of a game coming onto the PC port instead of trying to stabilize the games the game company tries to improve the graphics only to make much worse for people with low-end gaming rig, see I'm a person who owns a high-end rig but it still lags to about 15-20 fps I had to turn off all the textures setting only to find out that the game gets about 23-25 fps

Even then analyzing the story and the gameplay itself is nothing special and that 95% of the mission have nothing to do with the story which is about Niko Bellic trying grab the man who's betrayed his squad in the previous war, the mission feel like a set chores unlike in GTA San Andreas which most of the mission relating to story and trying to get back to the CJ once had in the hood.The only other thing about this game that seems like something to praise is the cover-based system and that the only fun thing to do most of the time is to camp at the Bohan safehouse and kill some police officers having six stars but even then you can't do that because this game LAGS to much.Lack of variety I see too can't get stronger, ridiculous clothing or getting fat which was the fun part about GTA SA.Overall if you have the most powerful gaming rig in the world that us poor can't buy than GTA IV is up your alley but even then so is Crysis.…Expand

It beats me how this game received a metascore of 90. It seems to have potential, I'll give it that, but the abysmal controls, bad dialog, and boring starter missions made me drop it after 2 hours. I might have been a bit annoyed with it to start with, because their lame attempt to market that windows gaming platform with the saving mechanism and random crashes.Sad thing is, they emulateIt beats me how this game received a metascore of 90. It seems to have potential, I'll give it that, but the abysmal controls, bad dialog, and boring starter missions made me drop it after 2 hours. I might have been a bit annoyed with it to start with, because their lame attempt to market that windows gaming platform with the saving mechanism and random crashes.Sad thing is, they emulate the cars physics pretty well, which unfortunately is completely pointless with digital 0/1 controls. Again, there seems to be potential, but for me it had way too many flaws to get that far.P.S.: Hardware requirements are a bit ridiculous considering the release date and the eye candy you get for it, but for a modern (2011) gaming rig it's very playable.…Expand

I held off for a long time before buying this game. I must say that after 2 years of waiting. I wish I would not have bothered buying GTA 4. First off It took 2 days just to get Microshaft live to work properly just so I could save. I cant even use my Philips gamepad, because MS basically paid R* to monopolize on full support for xbox controller for pc ONLY. I am almost done with the gameI held off for a long time before buying this game. I must say that after 2 years of waiting. I wish I would not have bothered buying GTA 4. First off It took 2 days just to get Microshaft live to work properly just so I could save. I cant even use my Philips gamepad, because MS basically paid R* to monopolize on full support for xbox controller for pc ONLY. I am almost done with the game (mission 85), and I am flat out bored of the same thing over and over again. All missions are the same. If this is the direction R* is taking GTA then count me out for future releases. On a score of 1 - 10 I give it a 1.5, and that is being fair. It seems R* now has a trademark. Every GTA game I have played I would find this http://www.drxdesigns.com/screenshots/rstrademark.jpg I am a freelance 3d graphic artist, so it is easy for me to find these faults. VC, SA both had texture stretching. Of course all this is just my opinion, just the same as everyone else, and I am entitled to that! R* use to be my favorite game company, now very bottom of the list. 2 Thumbs down to GTA 4, and Rockstar.…Expand

Gameplay, storyline, and multiplay is incredible. Graphics...well I suppose they COULD be good, but this game was coded SO poorly, it's impossible to tell. With a computer that surpasses the minimum requirements 10-fold, I was still forced to put all of the graphics settings on LOW in order to play with minimal lag. Keep in mind, there was STILL lag, and the low settings made graphics lookGameplay, storyline, and multiplay is incredible. Graphics...well I suppose they COULD be good, but this game was coded SO poorly, it's impossible to tell. With a computer that surpasses the minimum requirements 10-fold, I was still forced to put all of the graphics settings on LOW in order to play with minimal lag. Keep in mind, there was STILL lag, and the low settings made graphics look like utter sh*t. Had Rockstar put more effort in perfecting the coding, this game would have been amazing. Looks to me like another rushed out pile of ...…Expand

My initial opinion of the game was high but I soon began to see it's flaws. First the campaign is pretty good but drags on too long, and go here and kill this type missions get repetitive. The game also holds your hand for too long, with tedious tutorial missions. The main character Niko Bellic is a really cool character, almost too cool to the point where he feels manufactured and not aMy initial opinion of the game was high but I soon began to see it's flaws. First the campaign is pretty good but drags on too long, and go here and kill this type missions get repetitive. The game also holds your hand for too long, with tedious tutorial missions. The main character Niko Bellic is a really cool character, almost too cool to the point where he feels manufactured and not a believable character. The buddy system where friends call you up wanting to do activities is incredibly annoying and unnecessary also they punish you for not doing stupid things with your "friends." Onto technical issues, oh where to begin, the frame rate dips often, texture pop-in and blurry textures are everywhere. The controls are pitiful they are so unresponsive and unnecessary, it's incredibly frustrating. So in my opinion buy the game just not for PC.…Expand

This game was a disappointment to me. I really enjoyed GTA III and GTA:San Andreas, but just couldn't get into this one. The characters weren't as interesting to me, and the missions where just not as fun as some of the earlier GTA games. Hopefully the next installment of GTA improves upon this.

Absolutely not worth it. The download took a very long time, and unless your PC is running well above the minimum specs (which are already pretty high, and easily knocks out any non-gaming built PCs), then this game will lag terribly with severe glitching and control issues (and yes, I am talking about rock-bottom bare-minimum visual and audio effects). Sadly, I was unable to get pastAbsolutely not worth it. The download took a very long time, and unless your PC is running well above the minimum specs (which are already pretty high, and easily knocks out any non-gaming built PCs), then this game will lag terribly with severe glitching and control issues (and yes, I am talking about rock-bottom bare-minimum visual and audio effects). Sadly, I was unable to get past the 4th cutscene before my computer gave in on me.…Expand

this game is simply a piece of **** but it's not just regular **** it's that kind of **** that sticks in your toilet and remains there after flushing it 2000 times! it's by far the worst PC port of a console game i've ever seen.after trying the game on 4 different high-end computer, i still haven't been able to finish the first mission, because rockstar's "advanced" (i've put thosethis game is simply a piece of **** but it's not just regular **** it's that kind of **** that sticks in your toilet and remains there after flushing it 2000 times! it's by far the worst PC port of a console game i've ever seen.after trying the game on 4 different high-end computer, i still haven't been able to finish the first mission, because rockstar's "advanced" (i've put those quotation marks on purpuse) game engine is simply the worst looking, most buggy next-gen game engine. horrible textures, missing 3d models, object that pop out when you crash on them with your car, massive memory leaks, and so on. after playing it on my friend's xbox 360 i have to say that the story is the only thing that saves this game from being one of the worst games ever. it's actually a good game from that point of view. but please god tell me, why can i run 4 instances of unreal tournament 3 or crysis on ultra-high specs getting really good performance, but when i run gta4, i NEVER get more than 35 fps, with an averege of **** 20! that's UNPLAYABLE! and what i just don't understand, is why the **** do buildings, trees, and even STREETS pop out of nowhere when i move the camera? WHY??? THE GRAPHICS ARE SO ****TY IT SHULD RUN AT 200 FPS!!!and what can i say about the sound effects? try shooting a gun in real life, and tell me if the sound it makes is the same as the one you hear in this crap of a game? i doubt. and what about radio stations? these radios take gigabytes of space on my **** hard drive, and most of the songs suck ass! HOLY **** where the **** was the quality control team when they tried the PC version of gta4? where they takin a **** or did the programmers put some drugs in their coffee, so they couldn't see all the **** on the screen?what pisses me off even more is that some IDIOTS who reviewed this game gave it a 10/10! DID ROCKSTAR PAY YOU FOR NOT TRYING THE GAME??? OR WERE YOU JUST DRUNK AS **** WHILE REVIEWING IT?in conclusion, after wasting 70 euros (that's like 90 mother**** dollars!) for this miserable piece of **** after downloading and installing almost 1 gb of crap that did nothing but slow down my computer, all i have to say is **** YOU ROCKSTAR for wasting my **** money! die!

In conclusion, ratings:-graphics: 4.5 (could've been 6.0 if the game ran at 60 fps minimum)-sfx: 4.0-ost: 6.0-gameplay: n/a-story: 8.0

this game is great in some aspects, such as the story (the most mature history in any gta) the characters, the graphics and A.I. but the port of this game for PC is such a bad port, its like rockstar made it in one day... the poor controls, the awful bugs (specially the one on the **** last mission) you have to do wonders to repair a broken port like this and in top of that the musicthis game is great in some aspects, such as the story (the most mature history in any gta) the characters, the graphics and A.I. but the port of this game for PC is such a bad port, its like rockstar made it in one day... the poor controls, the awful bugs (specially the one on the **** last mission) you have to do wonders to repair a broken port like this and in top of that the music isn't as good (good thing for the personal radio) and the game isn't that challenging, so if you are a fan of gta try this, if you are not, go and play San Andreas and avoid this one…Expand

i really think i just wasted 20 bucks. after having to sign in twice, the game wouldn't let me advance after the first autosave because it wouldn't download my account, and when i chose the option to not autosave, the game got stuck in a loop and took me back to the autosave options. ive played this game on other platforms and loved it, then i download it and noticed microsofts recenti really think i just wasted 20 bucks. after having to sign in twice, the game wouldn't let me advance after the first autosave because it wouldn't download my account, and when i chose the option to not autosave, the game got stuck in a loop and took me back to the autosave options. ive played this game on other platforms and loved it, then i download it and noticed microsofts recent tendency to kill everything it touched.

i would recommend this for any platform other than the pc. Microsoft had to go messing things up again and totally destroyed the game.…Expand

WARNING: REQUIRES A LIGHTNING-SPEED COMPUTER. I have a Windows 7 from a few months ago. It came with a great video card, which could run almost every game I put on it, like Bad Company 2, COD, and Mafia 2. Every game, except, GTA IV. The file size is like 14GB, and it runs slow as a bad server on COD Black Ops, even on the lowest settings. What's even worse is that you need to get aWARNING: REQUIRES A LIGHTNING-SPEED COMPUTER. I have a Windows 7 from a few months ago. It came with a great video card, which could run almost every game I put on it, like Bad Company 2, COD, and Mafia 2. Every game, except, GTA IV. The file size is like 14GB, and it runs slow as a bad server on COD Black Ops, even on the lowest settings. What's even worse is that you need to get a Windows Live account in order to SAVE. The Windows Live thing hasn't been fixed in over 4 years, and Microsoft doesn't even care about it anymore. DON'T GET THIS ON PC. GET IT ON PS3 OR XBOX 360…Expand

GTA 3: the game shines at causing mess in a sandbox environment
GTA VC: a very cool protagonist plus a good story in a beautiful city
GTA SA: a large map, and missions are of the greatest variety and good humour
Then, what do we get in GTA IV?
- A very bad PC port with poor optimization shipped several months later after theLet's compare this with the 3 previous installments:

GTA 3: the game shines at causing mess in a sandbox environment
GTA VC: a very cool protagonist plus a good story in a beautiful city
GTA SA: a large map, and missions are of the greatest variety and good humour

Then, what do we get in GTA IV?
- A very bad PC port with poor optimization shipped several months later after the console launch
- Stupid GFWL and other social media program leading to serious random crash and corrupted save
- Annoying social elements ruining the fun of game
- Very limited variety in missions, gun-firing to shoot someone nearly all the time
- The worst driving control of the GTA series

Overall, poor optimization, pretending to be a society simulator and the lack of creativity in mission design just ruin all the fun of this game.…Expand

Pros:-LOT of effort put into making the environment believable (radio banter, TV shows)-characters you can empathize with
Cons:
-missions are repetitive
-you have to start all the way from the beginning if you fail a mission, and this includes the tedium of driving to get there or frantically running into the street to hail a cab
-despite the vast city, there are very few places you canPros:-LOT of effort put into making the environment believable (radio banter, TV shows)-characters you can empathize with

Cons:-missions are repetitive-you have to start all the way from the beginning if you fail a mission, and this includes the tedium of driving to get there or frantically running into the street to hail a cab-despite the vast city, there are very few places you can actually interact with, and that interaction is not compelling in the slightest (i.e. playing pool, watching a cabaret show)-AWFUL driving controls (it's supposed to be 'realistic,' but all it accomplishes is frustrating the player)-boring, badly designed combat system (both melee and shooting), bad cover system

Summary:On the whole, I felt like I was playing a drama show. I was getting from one story mission to the other as fast as possible so I could watch the next cutscene. I cared for Niko as a character, it's just that the character deserved to be in a better game.…Expand

Horribly ported to pc. Good luck getting it to work. I finally got mine to run fine but the thing continuously kicks me because "Your computer is running too slow". Rockstar is obviously trolling the pc community with this mess.

If your gonna get GTA IV get it on consoles This game is amazing but frame rate issues due to poor optimization make this the most un-fun irritating experience I've ever been forced to play aside from batman dark tomorrow

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
GTA IV was a big step back to me. Look at the massive array of vehicles in San Andreas. Bicycles, dirt bikes, quads, tractors, different types of helicopters and airplanes, the jetpack, etc. Why take all that stuff out?

GTA IV also completely **** up the physics of the game. Driving is half as fun as it was in the previous games. And people generally respond to this by saying that it's "realistic", but no. It's not realistic in any way. Making it slow paced and boring doesn't make it realistic. It just makes it slow paced and boring.

The shooting was improved a bit, but still needed a lot of work. The people who defend this game will claim that sticking your arm up while behind cover will cause Niko to shoot inaccurately, but it certainly hasn't worked that way for me. It seems to shoot wherever I point, regardless of the fact that Niko isn't even looking or aiming. Also, when you do choose to aim from behind cover (for whatever reason), it will cause your cross-hairs to move up a bit. Not a serious issue, but it's stupid that you have to keep in mind to aim a little bit below their head.

The weapon variety was also significantly reduced and simplified compared to San Andreas. Of course San Andreas also had weapons that were just flat out better than others, but GTA IV's weapon system operates by "tiers", where you have tier 1 weapons, tier 2 weapons, etc. One tier being completely better in every way than the other. It leaves no room for options and determining which weapons are best for you personally. Of course, SA had SOME weapons which were flat out better than others, but to a much smaller degree than GTA IV.

Niko is a walking contradiction, he speaks out against violence, but he's perfectly willing to kill if he gets money for it. Meanwhile, the guy he's trying to track down ends up telling him that he sold him out for $1,000. Niko acts all surprised and offended by this - but he does things like that all the time. The cheesy attempt to include a "2deep4u" story winded up backfiring. Rockstar should have stuck with the classic humor based, light hearted style story, rather than what was the equivalent of a B movie written by some emo kid.

Ultimately, my dislike for GTA IV can be traced back to one thing - Lack of variety. Look at all of the content from SA that they just flat out REMOVED. Just look at the build up of content and gradual perfection of concepts from GTA 3, to Vice City, to San Andreas. I thought Rockstar would continue that system. I was under the impression that what we saw in SA would be perfected and build upon, just as they had done in the past - Not just completely thrown away. I really thought Rockstar was on to something. I thought they had it figured out. I guess not.…Expand

This is the most bugged game EVER MADE. This game will not even start for me, even after I called Rockstar and spent 3 hours moving files and such to try to get it to work. It has so many glitches and bugs it is not even fun in any way. I played a console version at a friend's house, and cars still can't turn when going over 5 MPH. This game is a disaster. Don't get it unless it's on aThis is the most bugged game EVER MADE. This game will not even start for me, even after I called Rockstar and spent 3 hours moving files and such to try to get it to work. It has so many glitches and bugs it is not even fun in any way. I played a console version at a friend's house, and cars still can't turn when going over 5 MPH. This game is a disaster. Don't get it unless it's on a humble bundle.…Expand

Anyone that says we shouldn't complain about the game not working, is a moron. Most of us have advanced gaming rigs, like myself. There are known issues with this game that Rockstar has not patched. Its not like its a rare occasion that the game isn't working. There are tons of reports on the game being completely broken. Its not a hardware problem you idiots, its software. In other words,Anyone that says we shouldn't complain about the game not working, is a moron. Most of us have advanced gaming rigs, like myself. There are known issues with this game that Rockstar has not patched. Its not like its a rare occasion that the game isn't working. There are tons of reports on the game being completely broken. Its not a hardware problem you idiots, its software. In other words, the game was not created to be compatible-friendly to everyone. We shouldn't be expected to fix their mistakes. Play with folders and files. If I wanted to mess around in the folders, I would have pirated it. Also If it was our rigs, then why do all other games work? Literally GTA IV is the only game to not function properly.

But besides my game not working right. The Social Club DRM is down only on GTA IV, the website will take my login, but not the game, you know, where its intended to be used. But that's fine, we could always play single player, right? Nope, because we can't save the game when you cant login to the servers. Why bother the game. Me personally can't even start up story mode, and I can't login to the servers to play online. We should not accept this garbage. I'm sure the game is fantastic when its working. But I have to judge it as its entirety. Unfortunately a poor interface destroyed a potentially excellent PC game.

Personally I have to do a 0 because it was not functioning at all. I tried fixing it for hours, tried all the known methods, and had no luck. If I was able to actually play the game then I could have been a little more focused on the game's mechanics.

##tl;dr Version##
1. DRM, servers are down only in game. You can't play online.
2. DRM also is required just to save local story mode.
3. Thousands of cases of the game not even functions, and users are on their own to fix them.
4. Personally in my cause, I couldn't fix them.…Expand

No one wants to take responsibility for this travesty, but the fact is Steam continues to distribute this buggy game despite the fact that it does not work for Windows 7. I have Windows 7, but this game was written for XP or Vista, as a result I cannot even get this game to start up. If you have Windows 7 save yourself money and time and just do not buy this game. I have always been a fanNo one wants to take responsibility for this travesty, but the fact is Steam continues to distribute this buggy game despite the fact that it does not work for Windows 7. I have Windows 7, but this game was written for XP or Vista, as a result I cannot even get this game to start up. If you have Windows 7 save yourself money and time and just do not buy this game. I have always been a fan of GTA games, but have never tried to play one on PC before; the experience I have gone through with GTA IV has made me never want to buy Rockstar games on the PC platform ever again.…Expand

Decent game but wayyyyyyy to many glitches. I find myself redoing missions over and over again because of getting stuck or some weird sh** going on, isn't why there is game tester before you release a game?? I mean seriously it's rockstar shouldn't they know how to flush out these bugs before hand...Also the graphics aren't that great the gun people look choppy I have a great graphics cardDecent game but wayyyyyyy to many glitches. I find myself redoing missions over and over again because of getting stuck or some weird sh** going on, isn't why there is game tester before you release a game?? I mean seriously it's rockstar shouldn't they know how to flush out these bugs before hand...Also the graphics aren't that great the gun people look choppy I have a great graphics card and all gtx 560... car's look good buildings look great as will, story line isn't bad it get real annoying when you gotta pick up your friends and do things with em so often get old...…Expand

First I had problems installing it, it had a bug in the installation proccess, I 've had to open a support thread. Only then after one month I was told that I was forced to install Microsoft Marketplace manually, I had to create two accounts. One "RockStar Club" and a Microsoft account. It found it very annoying.
I expected more for this game. I found the controls too hard to grasp atFirst I had problems installing it, it had a bug in the installation proccess, I 've had to open a support thread. Only then after one month I was told that I was forced to install Microsoft Marketplace manually, I had to create two accounts. One "RockStar Club" and a Microsoft account. It found it very annoying.
I expected more for this game. I found the controls too hard to grasp at first. The graphics is still very good. But I didn't have as much fun as I had with previous GTA. It is for sure a worst GTA. I'd say the experience was bad.…Expand

The game was looking good at first, the graphics and textures are okay, although it's extremely laggy even if you have a PC much above the requirements, which I don't quite understand, so it does not work properly on computers. The cars are cool and the damage engine for them is great. Although there is some bugs with cars such as getting stuck or not seeing any sport cars which oftenThe game was looking good at first, the graphics and textures are okay, although it's extremely laggy even if you have a PC much above the requirements, which I don't quite understand, so it does not work properly on computers. The cars are cool and the damage engine for them is great. Although there is some bugs with cars such as getting stuck or not seeing any sport cars which often happens. The game is quite boring and the missions have no point and it's repetitive, I had no money in this game, then a mission where you rob a bank now I'm rich with nothing to do with the money? The only thing you can buy in this game is clothes and guns. This game is overrated. You are very limited on what you can do, there is no upgrades or level up systems, and it's extremely repetitive, the map is a decent size. The story is very bad, which is linear and repetitive and it's not interesting at all. I would not recommend this game.…Expand

It's GTA. Nothing terribly new, nothing terribly revolutionary. Not a bad sandbox setup but I expect more from a sequel and not just more of the same old, same old. Missions get pretty boring and repetitive. Gun play is so-so. Sadly this game is marred by not breaking from the herd enough and re-invigorating the series in light of Saints Row and Just Cause coming out and putting togetherIt's GTA. Nothing terribly new, nothing terribly revolutionary. Not a bad sandbox setup but I expect more from a sequel and not just more of the same old, same old. Missions get pretty boring and repetitive. Gun play is so-so. Sadly this game is marred by not breaking from the herd enough and re-invigorating the series in light of Saints Row and Just Cause coming out and putting together similar concepts. Oh, and yes, playing it on PC can be a mess depending on your hardware specs and that it is a half-cooked port.…Expand

Maybe the console version is a great game, but (for me at least) the PC port is borderline unplayable. The controls are horrendous and the cars drive like greased bricks with an inexplicable tendency to flip over at the tiniest bump in the road. Your character moves like he's 300 lbs and fights like his arms are 2 inches long.
Really what kills it for me is the control of the vehiclesMaybe the console version is a great game, but (for me at least) the PC port is borderline unplayable. The controls are horrendous and the cars drive like greased bricks with an inexplicable tendency to flip over at the tiniest bump in the road. Your character moves like he's 300 lbs and fights like his arms are 2 inches long.
Really what kills it for me is the control of the vehicles (or lack thereof). It's supposed to be a driving game, yet I'm pretty sure no one who developed (or ported) this game has ever driven a car. The cars barely turn at any speed unless you powerslide, at which point you will inevitably over-slide your turn and continue sliding until you hit something or do a complete 180. Also, all the cameras except the on-the-hood one lag behind the turns, making it impossible to see oncoming traffic or obstacles for a few seconds when you make a turn. Oh, and the cars flip over at the slightest hint of an elevation change.
This may be unnecessarily critical, but one of the things that bothered me the most was the menus. The mouse moves abysmally slowly, even at the highest sensitivity. This is infuriating when setting the GPS: you have to painstakingly move the mouse to the region you want, but when you click, it recenters the mouse and you have to move it back to the spot again to set the GPS. I know this is nitpicking, but when your mouse moves at one pixel per hour, it worsens an already frustrating experience.
All in all, I was extrememely disappointed with this game, and I don't see me giving it another chance, at least on PC.…Expand

Don't know about the whole buggy aspect, I ran this for over fifteen hours of gameplay without any trouble on a win7 32bit. It's pretty fun, but pales in comparison to GTA San andreas, or better yet, Saints Row 3.

Extremely disappointed with this port. I have a computer that isn't specifically a gaming rig, but it can play Bioshock Infinite on Medium graphics flawlessly and Black Ops on maximum settings. Grand Theft Auto IV plays on my computer as if Bioshock Infinite were being played on a Windows 98 computer. I thought that the game's dated age would allow it to be more accessible and by now oughtExtremely disappointed with this port. I have a computer that isn't specifically a gaming rig, but it can play Bioshock Infinite on Medium graphics flawlessly and Black Ops on maximum settings. Grand Theft Auto IV plays on my computer as if Bioshock Infinite were being played on a Windows 98 computer. I thought that the game's dated age would allow it to be more accessible and by now ought to have been updated enough to fix issues presented in earlier reviews. Boy was I wrong. The frame rates are a nightmare! On the east island the frame rates have mood swings, ranging from unplayable to passable but not appealing. Even when I lowered all the graphical settings to low, I would still have the same frame rate issues. On other islands the frame rate was surprisingly fine, but I was expecting something more when the 360/PS3 versions excelled. The draw distances are also contemptuous. Some buildings from a distance look ok but had very muddy textures. In some circumstances textures didn't appear on walls at all from distances. Also textures would pop in at the last minute, especially when driving a vehicle. Seriously, details on the road will appear when you are 20 feet from them. And this only is from my first day playing, I have yet to find out what other bugs there are. The gameplay isn't bad, but there are so many graphical problems that its near impossible to play. I wish I had looked at reviews before buying this. I hope there's something redeeming about Episodes from Liberty City, because I had unfortunately bought the Complete Edition.…Expand

GTA 4 is a good game, but by no means 10/10 perfect, game of all years. It is let down by it's clunky cover, shooting and driving controls, repetitive missions, unnecessary plot points and frankly, an overrated story which really only gets good half way through. normally, this game, despite all its faults would have warranted a 7.5/10, but the PC version of the game is absolutely terrible.GTA 4 is a good game, but by no means 10/10 perfect, game of all years. It is let down by it's clunky cover, shooting and driving controls, repetitive missions, unnecessary plot points and frankly, an overrated story which really only gets good half way through. normally, this game, despite all its faults would have warranted a 7.5/10, but the PC version of the game is absolutely terrible. Why? With my relatively recent and powerful GTX570 and AMD 6-core CPU, i expect a game as old as GTA IV (at this point, 5 years old), to be able to run at a decent frame rate on highest settings. Unfortunately, due to the horrible optimization, I manage a meagre 15 fps on highest settings, whilst looking much worse than newer games such as Just Cause 2 or Saints Row 3. On top of this piss poor optimization job, Both the Rockstar Social Club and Games for Windows Live layers just add another layer of annoyance to the game. Clearly, PC is not the platform for this game, and even then it is highly overrated. If you want game similar to this, invest in Saints Row 3, or play San Andreas.…Expand

Rockstar has been making the exact same game ever since GTA3 came out on PS2. Why are people acting like GTA4 is something different? It’s not, except for two things: it’s on a new generation of consoles and is actually worse than GTA3.

First off: anyone praising the graphics is blind or has never played a video game before this one. Textures are muddled, colors are drab, environmentsRockstar has been making the exact same game ever since GTA3 came out on PS2. Why are people acting like GTA4 is something different? It’s not, except for two things: it’s on a new generation of consoles and is actually worse than GTA3.

First off: anyone praising the graphics is blind or has never played a video game before this one. Textures are muddled, colors are drab, environments are bland, all of which combines to make it difficult to see where you are and where you’re going.

Second: they jacked up the driving physics of the game so now it feels like everything is moving underwater. Turns that used to be simple now send you sliding into walls, which gets frustrating given the large number of slow, crappy cars you seem to be forced to drive in this game.

Third: the stale mission-structured gameplay is exactly the same as it was over 10 years ago. It’s so tedious now. You get a mission giver, you have to drive across town to start the mission, then you have to drive to your mission destination, then back to your house if you want to keep your car. Fail the mission and you have to start the commute again. They have even added in “features” like toll booths now, which create traffic on bridges that honestly make you feel like you are commuting to work because if you charge through them you get an automatic wanted rating.

Oh, and did I mention something about keeping a car you want available? Well, in this game they decided to do away with garages for some reason. You know: the places you used to be able to store vehicles. Now your various pads with have one or two parallel parking spaces out in the middle of the AI-trafficked street and if you park a car there *perfectly* it will be saved. However, if it’s a big car or if the AI traffic knocks it slightly out of place, it will be gone when you reload.

Possibly the most annoying new “feature” of this series is the dating mini-games. You can hang out with certain people to increase their affection toward you, which reaps you certain benefits, but then ALL of them CONSTANTLY call you to hang out, even if you’re in the middle of a mission getting chased by the cops, or in the middle of commuting to do your next mission, or commuting home from your last mission. Whatever. And if you tell them no, even if it’s your own cousin asking you to go bowling again, though you just went bowling with him two days ago, he will get upset and you’ll lose affection. You can’t tell them no.

Also, Liberty City is big but incredibly empty. You will not be rewarded for exploring b/c there is simply not much out there. Instead of secret packages to collect, this time around you have to kill special pigeons, which are very frustrating to find even with the help of a guide. I got to about 20 or so before I asked myself why the hell I was doing it, because I wasn’t having any fun.

Finally, the “story” I keep seeing so many positive reviews refer to is stupid & nonsensical. You’re an illegal alien who begins a career as a professional criminal as soon as you step off the boat. Not much different from any other GTA protagonist aside from not already being a US citizen, right? Except now you’re Borat. AMAZING! There IS NO story! You’re a criminal who makes friends with other criminals throughout the game and then commits criminal acts. *spoiler*

Furthermore, while there may well be 20 hours’ worth of cutscenes (which tend to go on forever) & dialogue (which also never ends during your mission commutes with NPCs), it seems like it was all written by a 10-year old boy. Penis & fart jokes, characters needlessly dropping f-bombs twice a sentence to be “edgy” (I guess), and all-around lame humor in general that makes you roll your eyes and want to skip through every cutscene you come across. Unless you are a 10-year old boy, in which case I guess you’d be in heaven. Maybe that’s the targeted demographic now?

But Rockstar will keep making the same game as long as sheep keep buying it. Anyone who wants to see what an improvement in this genre looks like, I’d direct you toward Saints Row the Third. Not the best game ever, but one that is actually, you know, “fun” to play. Something Rockstar left out of GTA4.…Expand

I don't get it. I just don't get it. This game does not deserve the 98/100 critic score on 360, even without the problems of this horrible PC port, the game isn't that great. Is Rockstar paying off reviewers for high scores? This game is boring. Sure the story is engaging, but 90% of the time you're just driving around a city. It takes itself too seriously, sure the world has some goofyI don't get it. I just don't get it. This game does not deserve the 98/100 critic score on 360, even without the problems of this horrible PC port, the game isn't that great. Is Rockstar paying off reviewers for high scores? This game is boring. Sure the story is engaging, but 90% of the time you're just driving around a city. It takes itself too seriously, sure the world has some goofy stuff, but the story of the game is too dark and serious, look at Saint's Row, it's cheesy and over the top, that's funny. And now GTA5 has a 98/100 too, and that's depressing. People go after CoD for this all the time, but every GTA game is the same, you drive around, kill people, do missions. There's so many better games out there that just came out that aren't getting any attention, Rayman Legends for instance, that game tries so many fresh ideas, and it works. But gets no attention. This is truly sad for the gaming community.…Expand

I tried valiantly to get into this, since I have been a devote fan of the GTA franchise since I first fired up top-down GTA ever so many years ago. However, I have some fairly sizable complaints. And I feel they're likely shared by others...

While the in-game graphics are lovely, and my rig handles in-game play with ease even at higher detail I noticed immediately that the cut-scenesI tried valiantly to get into this, since I have been a devote fan of the GTA franchise since I first fired up top-down GTA ever so many years ago. However, I have some fairly sizable complaints. And I feel they're likely shared by others...

While the in-game graphics are lovely, and my rig handles in-game play with ease even at higher detail I noticed immediately that the cut-scenes are the herky-jerkiest mess of nausea-inducing graphical horror imaginable. If my machine can handle maxed out graphical settings in-game, why in the world are cut-scenes such a dreadful chore to render?

Vehicle controls are not just modestly too realistic, they're OVERLY realistic: Making the game feel more like work than an escape probably wasn't the best course to take here. The higher-end cars would seem to be the way out of this quagmire, yet they actually magnify this effect. They're not stogy and unresponsive, no, but they're overly twitchy and even less fun to pilot.

I've played some disappointing Rockstar games in my time, but this one easily tops the list. I say this only having played for a few hours, but I can't honestly think of anything I'd rather continue doing less than muddle through this fiasco.

If you're eagerly awaiting GTA 5 for the PC and are seriously thinking of purchasing this to fill your wistful, empty hours until it is finally released to us PC plebs, I implore you not to bother.

I'd honestly rather replay one of the decent GTA releases, GTA:VC including the impossible RC helicopter missions and ridiculous "try until you want to cry" boat missions all the way through again, rather than continue with this shambolic offering an hour longer.

First off. terrible port even with my core i5 4570 and amd 7870 the game lags like The textures are just so bad same with meshes in doors. And the story line is just the same over and over do this go do that bla bla all you do is drive there do that then do it again its boring as hell. I hope they actually optimize GTA V for pc this time instead of spending 2 mins porting it to pc

1 point, because of included video editor. When this game was released, I bought it (was the last game I ever bought) and was very, very disappointed. I will not talk bout windows live and social club crappy malware applications, don't worry. Shortly: After Vice city and San Andreas has arrived a called GTA IV. Graphic was ugly, no anti-aliasing, but including disgusting grainy shadows1 point, because of included video editor. When this game was released, I bought it (was the last game I ever bought) and was very, very disappointed. I will not talk bout windows live and social club crappy malware applications, don't worry. Shortly: After Vice city and San Andreas has arrived a called GTA IV. Graphic was ugly, no anti-aliasing, but including disgusting grainy shadows and colors was totally bleached, aka desaturated. Just ugly, absolutely ugly and playable barely at 30 fps on superb PC. Story is also boring as fuk, full of non-sense stereotype missions, all you do is driving a fukin car, and driving a car in this game is like driving a on wheels. When you finish the game, you have like million dollars, but all you can do is buy a million of hotdogs or t-shirts. Where else to spent all those money? It's useless! Remember how you was counting every penny in Vice city to buy Malibu club? Forget that! This is GTA IV, this is You can't even do a taxi missions. No taxi missions in a city situated into pseudo-New York! Fukin scandal, there's nothing to do after you finish story line. Whole city is empty, boring, dull. This game is a of a decade. Oh, and this is great: Your phone is constantly ringing and that fat fuk cousin of yours always want to go bowling, great. This game ruined my Christmas in 2008, thanks Rockstar for this lazy utter crap.…Expand

I think earlier versions had nicer control and more fluid gameplay on PC. Besides, the ton of copy protection took me hours to figure out (it's really a huge pile of and bugs are abundant, I'll go with Saints Row from now on.

Very late review, but I felt a sudden need to say that this game was an utter disappointment. Flat out boring story and characters, but worst of all, I didnt have fun doing the good old GTA about in the world stuff. It just didnt invite me in...

They've messed up real life simulation and fun game play. The whole game feels like a drag. Emotionally unstable protagonist which most of the times does not represent what the player wants/feels. Story-wise everything feels schemed. Majority of the characters are being killed/disposed off before you even know them. You play for around 20hours into the story to findVery Disappointed

They've messed up real life simulation and fun game play. The whole game feels like a drag. Emotionally unstable protagonist which most of the times does not represent what the player wants/feels. Story-wise everything feels schemed. Majority of the characters are being killed/disposed off before you even know them. You play for around 20hours into the story to find out the real story behind it all, which in fact, is very poor. Thinking about spending time and building relationships/friendships? Absolute waste of time. Girlfriends are getting discarded like flies through "Storytelling". Constant drama and personal-family affairs are just horrible representation.

Game-wise. Graphics are mediocre at best. They've pulled this strange, and rather unwanted, dirt-brown filter onto everything, to simulate a dirty (real life?) city. To say the least it all fails. The game was designed for a console. With limited resources and computational power in mind. And this version of the game in just a port, and a cheap one, they didn't even bother implementing anti-aliasing into the game. No matter that, knowing it's 5years old game, and the availability of graphical enhancers around this is all semi-fixable, and can be disregarded by majority.

Mechanics. The physics, AI, and other inner mechanics are very poor designed, if they were designed at all. Vehicle controls are as crappy as ever. Especially every other car that you aren't driving. Motorcycles flying into the air like balloons on every impact. Inflammable cars with a touch of a finger. Cars no longer have fuel tanks apparently. You have to shoot the rims of the car for it to get a blazed and explode. Forget about flat tires. Firing at tires does nothing. Shoot the rims for effect. which goes in three stages apparently. Flat tire -> broken rim -> car in flames. No purchasable safe-houses. No property ownership with benefits. Just story set crappy apartments forces upon you. I recall parachutes and jet packs in previous game installments, non of that here. No "gang members" recruitment. You can't call out for someone to help. Missions scripts are more broken than ever. Sometimes it feels like you have to perform brain-surgery operation to get in place for mission to progress.

Overally. Having played Vice City, and getting very amazed back in the day, it was improved and topped up with creativity with San Andreas. But, as it seems, they decided to literally downgrade the game for "reality feel". They've removed so much it is unbelievable this game was in production so long. No car customization, no garage, you can't call a ballet to bring you your car. They've spent so much time and effort into rag-doll simulation and animations things just fly by while you are trying to enter a vehicle. Muscle, stamina have been removed. Character customization is just non-existing. You have Niko Bellic as he is. You can buy him a nice suit. That's about it. The whole experience feels like stripped down game. It is rather ironic that throughout the game there are multiple references and mentioning of Vice City, and how much better things are there.

Conclusion. This review is based on completing the game. I am not one of those who played couple of hours and made their conclusions. Being GTA fan for a decade it is really a shame that such a franchise ended up in such state. It is all down the hill from now on. I am really afraid even taking GTA5 in my hands. Thinking that it will be just like GTA4 with three Niko Bellics running around. Not recommended.…Expand

Points for the fantastic graphics, but unfortunately, the game is so painfully laggy that it's beyond the point of being playable. Even after trying everything to fix the situation, this game just doesn't want to cooperate with my PC. Hopefully, Rockstar is able to avoid these kind of bugs in future games.

It's bad. It's boring. It's broken.
Now, autumn of 2014, i7-2700 (3,4GHz Quad), 16 GB RAM, Geforce 970 (Maxwell 2), Win8.1-64, SSD: The game does not stutter anymore. Maybe unless you use the X-Box-controller, that is.
Now, you can see GTA4 in its full glory. And it is bad. Graphics? Dated. Well, they were already dated when the game was released in 2008, but hardly anybody noticed that,It's bad. It's boring. It's broken.
Now, autumn of 2014, i7-2700 (3,4GHz Quad), 16 GB RAM, Geforce 970 (Maxwell 2), Win8.1-64, SSD: The game does not stutter anymore. Maybe unless you use the X-Box-controller, that is.
Now, you can see GTA4 in its full glory. And it is bad. Graphics? Dated. Well, they were already dated when the game was released in 2008, but hardly anybody noticed that, as nearly everybody was just overwhelmed by the sheer size of the city. Music? No, just awful noise. Dialogues? Do you consider F-words and S-words a bearable dialogue? In that case you do not have a problem with the game. You do have a problem with your life. Missions? Try to navigate a horrible car through a horrible mess of horrible AI and kill someone. Repeat.
The good news is: The triggers in the game can be broken, so you cannot start the next mission. What about other savegames? It is GfWL - no escape here. The game essentially gives you a "Game over" for free. Thus the game has a useful message after all: Go and play something else.…Expand

**** Final Mission
Pc Version have problem but Rockstar cant fix it
im so fast take Boat and chase dimitri BUT Cant take Jacobs Heli
15 Times retry same result Mission Failed
Fuxxcking this game **** programer this mission designer !
totaly GTA 4 is **** game..
too many money...cant buy nothing
and sux framelate and so on

same game play mode in the entire game, you spend more time traveling to the mission than completing it, the only challenge games are the minigames, even the dates are repetitive. Obviously the high rates was for the graphics and free run mode.

Nicely done but becomes a little repetitive after a while. There should be more around the story, or more interesting missions than just go and shoot a bunch of people to steal something. Yet, it's addictive and characters are quite developed with clear cut personalities (Little Jacob is AWESOME!).
However, after playing for 60 hours, I'm struggling real bad with some missions, afterNicely done but becomes a little repetitive after a while. There should be more around the story, or more interesting missions than just go and shoot a bunch of people to steal something. Yet, it's addictive and characters are quite developed with clear cut personalities (Little Jacob is AWESOME!).
However, after playing for 60 hours, I'm struggling real bad with some missions, after retrying them for like 20 times. No way to skip them, no help, it SUCKS! I'm so fed up to redo the same things again and again and have Nicko not respond to what I ask him to do, ending up dying in the most retarded ways ever. I give up. It ruined my game experience so bad that I now hate the game. Well done Rockstar for not putting any save-points for the long missions and force the player to do the same things during 30 minutes every time, again and again, for nothing.…Collapse

It's the peripheral distractions of both going out with Roman, and meeting your girlfriends, that really make your virtual life so worth living. Although incredibly simplistic, they're oddly touching...One of the finest videogames ever. [Christmas 2008, p.87]

A genuinely ground-breaking blockbuster in videogame history. There were moments playing GTA IV that I thought back to my initial experiences with games, and realised exactly how far we've come. There's never been anything quite like GTA IV in the world. That there makes me genuinely happy to be a gamer.